Stymphalian Birds
creatureThe Stymphalian Birds were a flock of man-eating birds with beaks of bronze and toxic dung, inhabiting the marshes around Lake Stymphalia in Arcadia.
The Myth
These birds had multiplied until they devastated the countryside around Lake Stymphalia, destroying crops with their toxic droppings and attacking anyone who ventured near. Their feathers were said to be sharp as arrows and could be launched at victims. For his sixth labour, Heracles could not approach the dense marsh on foot. Athena provided him with a bronze rattle forged by Hephaestus; its tremendous noise startled the birds into flight, whereupon Heracles shot them down with arrows. Those that survived fled to the Isle of Ares in the Black Sea, where the Argonauts later encountered them.
Parents
Ares (or Stymphalus)
Children
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
Pausanias visited Lake Stymphalia in the 2nd century AD and noted that large, aggressive birds still nested there — possibly inspiring the original myth.